Crossfire II: Fragments of the Past
by EcoJak
Summary: DISCONTINUED:: 8 years have passed since the threat of MetalTorn Faith is now a child, but there's more to her that meets the eye. Sequel to Crossfire Cowritten by Lioness of Darkness. 2nd in my Crossfire series.
1. A New Life

Crossfire II: Fragments of the Past

By: EcoJak/Lioness of Darkness

**Author Note: **You read it right. This fic is being written by me, and my new friend, Lioness of Darkness! We're still working on it, so be patient. Ladies and non-ladies, I give you...Crossfire II!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

_21 years ago..._

The cold rain poured heavily over the tall, stone building, and splashed onto its rough surface. Thunder rumbled in the distance as lightening lit up the dark, gloomy streets of Haven.

Then...something dripped off of the stone walls. Something that shouldn't have been there;

Blood. Lots of blood.

The liquidy substance was followed by a limp hand hanging off of the edge.

A small boy, probably 5 or 6, slowly made his way to the lifeless body. His clothes were soaked by the rain, as well as the tiny, green clump of hair drooping off of his leather hat.

"Mommy?" He cried softly.

He shook the woman, staining his hands with her blood in the process.

"Mommy, please! I'm scared!" He cried even harder.

The woman still remained motionless. The child dropped to his knees in horror.

His mother was dead.

"Mommy..."

From the shodows, a large figure appeared with a green Eco-Sword in his grasp. He looked at the child with 'shock'.

"Mar...what have you done?" The man whispered.

"I...I d-didn't mean to...i-it was an accident...I-" Mar was intrupted by a fat finger placed on his small lip.

"Shh..."

The man's faced turned from sympathy...to anger.

"You are not to speak of word of this to anyone." He growled.

"But I-"

"Not. A. Word. Understood?"

Mar nooded.

"There is something I need to tell you."

Mar looked around nervously, he didn't know what to do.

"Wake up, Mar...wake up.."

"W-what..?"

"Wake up...wake up.."

"WAKE UP!" Another voice shouted.

* * *

Jak awoke to a little fuzzy ottsel clinging desperately to his furry mane.

"What do you waaannntt?" Jak yawned.

"Thank God! This little bugger's drivin' me CRAZY!"

"Who?"

"Her!"

At Daxter's word, a small, golden lioness with jade hair and eyes pounced on the ottsel from behind. She smiled.

"Faith...let go of Uncle Daxter." Jak said playfully.

"Thank you!" Daxter threw his furry little arms into the air.

"Aww..." Faith wined, releasing the small creature. "But he's so cute and fuzzy!"

"I know." Jak gave Daxter a noogie. "Your mom said the same thing a whiles back."

"Yeah...wait, hey!" The ottsel shouted.

"Well, she did."

"What else'd she say?" Faith asked, excitedly.

"Oh, that he had a big mouth, he smelled, he was too hairy-"

Daxter shoved Jak's red scarf into his mouth.

"Ok...hehe..that's enough."

The lion pulled the scarf from his mouth.

"Ugly, too."

The lioness gave her father a blank look before answering with...

"So, THAT'S who the 'Ugly Ottsel' is! Mom tells me that story all the time!" Faith proclaimed.

"Hey!" Daxter shouted.

The lion changed the subject. "So, aren't you supposed to be fishing with your mother?"

"I got bored. I want to play with you, dad!"

"Um...maybe later."

"PLEASEEEEE?"

"Ok! Ok!"

"Yay!"

The lioness hopped up and down with joy as she scampered off. Jak slowly got up and walked with Daxter by his side.

"Yer gettin' old, I'm tellin' ya.."

"I'm not old. I'm only 26."

"Old."

"And, I had a dream about my past."

The ottsel hopped up on the lion's shoulder.

"Well, maybe if you actually TOLD someone instead of complaining about it, we wouldn't have this problem, now would we?"

"I know, but..." The lion trailed off.

Jak looked at his daughter who was preoccupied trying to catch a butterfly.

"I...can't. Keira's still kinda mad at me because of my 'attitude problem', and Faith doesn't even know she's not a pure lioness!"

"So? I'm not a pure ottsel, and I deal with it just fine!"

"Dax.."

"Just tell her!"

"She won't take it as well as you. Remember when you first came out of that Dark Eco pool?"

Daxter thought about this for a minute.

"Oh, yeah...that was scary." Daxter muttered.

The lion held out his paw for the ottsel to see. Dark Eco sparked wildly around his curved claws.

"And I still can't control my dark side too well; how am I supposed to teach her?"

"I know! Wait here!"

Just then, the ottsel ran into the house for a few minutes, then came back with a book called "How to Control Dark Eco, by Gol Akaron".

Jak looked at it with a puzzed expression.

"Use this!" Daxter exclaimed.

"You had this...the whole time...AND NEVER TOLD ME!"

"I forgot, ok? Just give this to the kid..."

Jak reached for the book, but Daxter pulled it away quickly.

"...if you promise to keep her outta my hair."

"Hmmmm...decisions, decisions."

"Jak!"

"Just kidding."

The lion thought about it for a while, then answered.

"Done."

"AND, give me 300 bucks?"

The lion gave the ottsel a sarcastic look.

"Don't push it."

Jak grabbed the book with his mouth and walked over to his daughter.

"Here Faith, a little present from Uncle Daxter."

The ottsel crossed his arms in frustration.

"You still owe me 300 bucks!" Daxter called back.

Jak looked back at Daxter and saw that the ottsel meant business when he talked about money, if he were still a human being he'd have reached into his pocket pulled out the money or threatened to give Daxter a little trip to Torn, on his own, in a small room, and Daxter would forget the money business all together.

But now it was a bit of a different story, he had no wallet and no money, he couldn't use the old 'shut up or I'll put you in a small room with Torn' trick because Torn was now not only the commander of the Krimson Guards but he was also now the governor of Haven city, as Ashelin had been mixed up with another chicken in the palaces organic food chambers and given to Torn as dinner, so the ruler of the city could always know that he had a bit of his lover in his body, all the time.

The only other option he had to get rid of Daxter was to try and strangle him, but he didn't want to appear to be a bloodthirsty assassin in front of his own daughter, so he growled deeply at Daxter and bound off to Faith who was waiting for him eager to go on an adventure. Jak paced up to Faith and grinned sheepishly, faith looked at her father and then saw a large book hidden in his scarf, she jumped up to it and using her small teeth she pulled it out, the book opened out onto a rather gory page with a demon ripping a young woman's head off blood pouring from her neck down her back and onto the pavement.

Jak expected his daughter to squeal and cry, she was only young and to see that would no doubt frighten her or upset her, but instead she simply leant forward and grinned.

"Cool! Hey Daddy where did you get the cool bedtime book? These will be soooo much better than hose boring stories uncle Daxter tells me every night! Can all humans do that? Even uncle Torn?"

Jak stared at Faith, bewildered by the out come, he stared at Daxter and the ottsel shrugged, Jak gulped then covered Faith's eyes with one paw and closed the book with the other.

"Daddy!"

"No Faith, you're too young, besides if your Mother found out that you were looking at things like that I'd be metal meat before you know it," Jak sighed, he took his paw off Faith's tiny head and placed the book back under his scarf, "And only a few elves have those powers, that's what happens when you get hit by dark eco lightning."

"But I thought uncle Daxter was a human before, did he get struck by eco lightning? Why didn't he become a demon and just little boring ottsel? Is that how the metal heads started? And what about Lurkers?" Faith trailed off into silence, by that time Jak had forgotten every question, so he just smiled placed a paw on his daughter's head and said:

"I'll tell you when you're older," Faith grumbled at this, she hated being treat like a baby, she wanted to learn everything, but anytime she asked she'd just get the same old answer of 'I'll tell you when you're older'!

"Look, if it makes you feel better, I'll take you to dead town!" Faith's eyes lit up with joy, she nodded her head quickly and ran around in circles, "and I'll tell you a story about dead town on the way there!"

* * *

At this Faith bounded off leaving Jak to follow her, he looked around, there were plenty of pedestrians about, Jak had become like a little city mascot, pretty much everyone knew him, children would climb on his back for rides around the street and even grown adults would stop and stroke his thick bushy mane! Jak crouched as though he was going to pounce then bounded after Faith as quickly as he could.

When Jak closed the gap between Faith and himself, he lowered his head to Faith's level and clamped his teeth around her neck, lifted her up and ran through the city being careful not to crash into any Lurkers or humans.

He took a few minutes to get to the gates, which separated the City of Haven from Dead town. He sat down and dropped Faith to the floor, Faith stomped her back foot impatiently. Jak then let out a loud yawn and laid out on the dirty pavement, the young Lioness cub jumped onto her Father's head and bit his ears as though they were chew toys.

"Daddy, c'mon I wanna go play!" She moaned; Jak showed no signs of pain as she bit away at his ears, he did this whenever he wanted to get out of doing something like swimming in the port or hunting desert metal heads. "You're boring!"

"Y'know," Jak started, "this is the same way one of the greatest lions looked before it died," Faith glanced over at Jak and then listened carefully, "it was seven years ago tonight, all was quiet and peaceful, these walls weren't always there, dead town used to be known as Dallun town, people who lived there were simple folk and happy with there lives, but little did they know, that was all going to change.

"A lion crept into the city at night fall, it was leading thousands of metal heads behind it, no one was out on the streets so they made it through with complete ease, then when the full moon came out the lion let out a huge roar and the metal heads charged around the town killing all! By the time they had finished killing all the civilians in that area, they claimed the town as their own, and do you know how I know about this incident," Faith shook her head in confusion, then Jak sat up, lowered his head, bared his sharp white teeth and then growled in a low hoarse voice, "because, I was that Lion!" Faith screamed and tried to run away but Jak caught her in his mouth and pretended to rip her apart.

He kept her in his mouth and they walked into Dead town, not knowing who or what they would find.

* * *

**EcoJak: Review?**

**Lioness: Please?**


	2. It's Not Over

**Author Note: **Just wanted to say that this one's really short.

Disclaimer: I own Faith. Nothing else (sobs)

* * *

Chapter 2

Jak's heavy paws thumped against the rough surface of Dead Town while little Faith's made a pit-pat sound. As the tiny lioness trailed behind her father, his large tail swished back and forth slowly, almost hypnotically.

It was so tempting...she had to...

"YEOW!" Jak yelled as Faith started batting against his tail with her sharp claws.

The older lion lifted his tail to eye level and saw his daughter now holding on by her tiny, but sharp, teeth. Jak smiled slyly.

"Faith...what are you doing?"

The lioness' tried to speak through the thick flesh/fur she now held in her mouth. "Mmmp mwa mm mmp!"

Jak pulled the kitten off of his tail and continued walking. Faith, being the hyperactive little cat she was, jumped up and down, trying desperately to get her father's attention. When Jak 'ignored' her, she began to walk off in the opposite direction. She didn't get far after she tripped over a large footprint in the ground.

"Oof!" She grunted.

Faith looked down the large, flame-shapped hole and gasped.

"Wow...big hole!" Her voice echoed. "Who made this?"

Jak heard this and made this way towards the large hole Faith now stood in. She looked up to her father and smiled. Jak, however, wasn't too pleased. His long ears drooped down, and his pupils shrank in fear. He drew short breaths and started to move back a bit.

"Oh no..." The lion shuddered. "Not now.."

Faith's smiling face turned to worry as she noticed her father's expression.

"Daddy..? Dad, what's wrong?"

Jak gripped the lioness by the scruff of her neck with his teeth and walked off rather quickly.

"What happened?" Faith asked.

Jak slowly shook his head, trying to forget what just happened. He knew what made that hole, and he knew he had to get out of there immediately before it found them.

"Daddy?" She tried again.

"W-we need to get outta here. It's not safe."

"Why?"

Jak set down the tiny cat and guarded her with his life. He frantically searched for whatever he was looking for, hoping it wouldn't get his daughter.

"Is someone following us?" Faith whispered.

Jak sighed. He really didn't want to scare her, but it was the only way to keep her quiet.

"Metal Heads." Jak sighed.

Faith's green eyes widened in petrified fear. She'd heard many nasty stories about Metal Heads. How they seeked out anyone foolish to leave the city unprepared. How they tore their flesh slowly and painfully off of their very bones, and left them for dead. She never liked Metal Heads. And neither did Jak.

A brick falling off of a old, decayed building caught the two cats' attention. Faith recoiled fearfully as Jak kept his position in front. A skull gem reflected off a broken mirror on the building and shone on the bigger cat's forehead.

"Stay. Completely. Still." Jak muttered through gritted teeth.

The young lioness held her breath, and backed away a little more. Little did she know, a small pebble placed by her back paw rolled on the ground and hit an even bigger rock, causing it to fall into the murky water with a loud SPLASH.

"Oops..." Faith wined.

This, unforunately, caught the lizard's attention. With a loud grunt, it hopped off the building and made its way towards the cats.

* * *

Saliva drooled off of its fanged mouth, and its tounge lashed wildly from side to side. Jak's fur stood on end as he grolwed lowly. He wasn't going down without a fight.

"Stand back, Faith." Jak whispered.

The lioness was too shocked to move, but nodded slowly. Jak made the first move by charging at the Metal Head with full force and piercing his claws into the thick, leathery skin. The M.H. pulled away, and struck the lion in the face. At that moment, both the lion and lizard charged at each other, but the lizard threw the big cat down.

Jak grunted as his back hit the cold concrete hard. He got up and continued to swipe at the Metal Head desperately. Each attempt failed.

The Metal Head lowered its metal plated head and crashed into the cat's spine with a loud crack. Jak tumbled, but landed on his feet gracefully.

"Man..." Jak gasped. "This guy's tough.."

The lion then sprinted behind the blue lizard, and pulled it into a headlock. He saw Faith backed up into the wall in shock, and gasped.

"Faith! Get out of here!" Jak yelled; Faith didn't respond. "GO!"

Faith then snapped back to reality and looked around frantically for something, anything, to help. She turned back to her father, and, at that moment, nearly screamed.

The Metal Head used it long claws to swipe the lion across the chest, and blood oozed out of the deep wound. Jak fell to the ground in pain, and it didn't look like he was moving.

The Metal Head raised its head triumpantly, roared, then took off, not noticing a much easier target two feet away. As the creature left, Faith rushed up to her father, panicstriken (if that's even a word, lol)

"DAD!" Faith screeched.

Little did she know, that screech caught the attention of a few more Metal Heads in the distance.

* * *

"Daddy! Daddy please, get up!"

Faith sobbed into her Father's green mane, he was breathing but other than his chest rising and shrinking he showed no signs of emotion or life, his scarf was ripped yet the book was still there!

"Daddy please! Stop playing dead and let's go home, Mom is gonna get worried if we don't hurry! C'mon!"

But Jak did not stir, Faith stacked up her options, if she left, Jak would be in serious danger, metal heads lurked behind every corner of Dead town, but if she stayed no one would know where they were, and if the metal heads did come, there was nothing she could really do. She looked around, she couldn't see any metal heads, a few lizard like animals crept along but the posed no threat to the young lioness. She looked at her Father, gave him a quick lick on the side of the face for good luck, and then bounded off back to Haven city.

The run back was dull and frightening, Faith often heard growls and footsteps but tried not to take any notice of them, dust usually fell on her head and she would sometimes fall into the poisonous water. She was scratched up pretty badly by the time she could see the gate, some from crawling in holes to avoid the attention of metal heads, others from lizards and Frish (AN: those little orange crosses between frogs and fish in the sewers and dead town).

Faith's little heart pounded and her lungs burnt as she carried on running, it wasn't much further, just a few more metres…

She fell onto the dirty floor, dust and mud covering her golden fur; she took long deep breaths and waited for the strength to start again, to come to her. But it never did, she lay there for what seemed an age, minutes seemed like hours, hours seemed like days and by the time dusk had come a year seemed to have passed.

Suddenly a figure jumped down in front of her.

* * *

"Daxter!" Keira growled at the little orange ottsel, Daxter cowered in front of the angry Lioness knowing that he was about to get attacked by a fully grown female lion in a mood!

* * *

**EcoJak: Like what you see? Just press the little purple button by "Send Review" to tell us what you think.**


	3. Savior

Chapter 5

* * *

_Back at the Naughty Ottsel..._

"DAXTER!" Keira's roaring voice could be heard throughout the Port. "Clean up this mess!"

The little ottsel ignored the angry lioness, and downed another bottle of beer; not in his mouth, but his nose. Daxter tossed the empty bottle aside, got up, and staggered around 'gracefully'.

"You ain't my-HIC- mom!" Daxter slurred.

The ottsel reached for another bottle behind the bar, but fell as a result. Keira's face would have gone beet red if it could.

"Clean this up or I'll get TORN in here!"

Keira knew this would work; next to bees, telebubbies, and CareBears, Torn was his worst fear.

"Naahhhh..." Daxter slurred once again, collapsing on the hard table. Keira was pissed.

But, it took the ottsel a few minutes to realize he landed on the edge of a beer bottle.

"OW!"

"Serves you right."

(A/N: Thought we needed a little humor in this fic. )

* * *

The figure slowly krept up to the exausted lioness on all fours. A bright light glowed from its forehead, and its claws looked like daggers.

Closer and closer it came, never stopping.

Faith's tiny heart pounded harder with each sluggish step vibrating against the dusty ground.

"N-no...please.." Faith groaned.

Suddenly...it stopped.

"Huh?" She lifted her head weakly.

It picked up the lioness, and cradled it in its long, bulky arm. Through her dazed sub-conscious, she felt warm fur through the metal armour. She felt safe.

She looked over her shoulder and saw the other Metal Heads stopping as well.

She turned back to the mysterious creature and saw that it was some cross between a lion, a tiger, and a Metal Head. (I'm still developing this character, so this may seem different from what I draw)

Faith felt warm tears develop in her jade eyes.

"M-my...daddy..." She choked out. "M-my daddy's...not moving.."

The Metal-Liger sighed deeply, and held the little lioness closer. He stroked her soft hair and looked into her pleading eyes.

"H-help him...please..." She cried.

The Liger turned his attention towards the bloody Precursor-lion by his feet. He shook his large head, not knowing what to do. He knew the pain of losing someone close to him, too many times, in fact. He turned back to the kitten and rested his head against hers.

"We'll help him." The liger's voice was soothing to the kitten's ears. "I promise."

The Liger sent out a roar to the other Metal Heads, who, in response, all shot an individual beam of Dark Eco in the air to warn everyone else of Jak and his daughter's presence.

* * *

The last thing Jak remembered was being attacked by a Metal Head, then nothing. He groaned as he opened his eyes slowly.

When he awoke, Jak found himself in a sunny village; much different than the gritty streets of Haven. As Jak got up, he found that he was much shorter. His fur dissapeared, and he was actually wearing clothes.

Jak looked to his left, and found a fallen Wumpbee next by an old tree.

Wait...Wumpbees? This all seemed very familiar...

The Precursor scanned his surroundings more carefully and found himself in none other than SandOver village. Various children were being treated by their parents from the bee stings; including one Jak knew all too well.

"JAK!" A short little redhead came running up to the fallen Precursor. "Jak, are you ok? Are you alright?"

Jak went to say something, but found that he couldn't speak again.

"C'mon buddy, let's get you cleaned up."

But Jak couldn't move. His eyelids felt heavy as he quickly lost his strength, and the darkness slowly krept over the corners of his eyes. His head started to go limp in the younger Precursor's grasp.

"Jak...c'mon don't do this to me.." His voice sounded older for some reason.

Jak's vision then went completely black, but he still heard voices.

_"Jak...don't go..."_ The voices echoed in the darkness of his mind.

_"Come back...come back..."_ This one sounded female.

Then...Jak saw something appear out of the darkness.

Light.

* * *

_Blood… _

One of the most horrific things to see at such a young age, a scratch on your arm at the age of six is like an amputated limb at the age of twenty. And to see an excessive amount of blood at such a young age is absolutely horrifying!

And that was what a certain little boy had to see on his sixth birthday, down in a small alleyway, next to his mother, blood soaked his tiny hands, tears drenched his cheeks and the only sound he could make was a tiny whimper.

Then footsteps came, footsteps from a monster, a large man with a green eco sword in his right hand and metal hiding one side of his face.

"Hello young Mar," The man growled, "What happened here?"

_The young boy just whimpered some more and twizzled a bit of his dead mother's hair around in his fingers. "Did you do this?" The boy looked at the older man in shock then shook his head quickly. "Of course you didn't, but if you didn't then who did?" _

The boy sniffed back tears, there was nobody to comfort him anymore, no mother, no father, no friends or family, no hope. When he thought about all of this he burst out crying in his Mother's arms, but there was no comforting shushing noise, no sweet words, no warm arms to wrap around his fragile body, just a corpse.

"You killed her didn't you Mar? If it weren't for your evil doing she'd still be a happy lady, living a nice normal life, I suppose it's for the best really that she is dead, no more suffering at your hands." The man chuckled, "tell you what, if I give you a head's start you can run away from all of this, and no more shall come of it, being the energetic tyke that you are I'm sure you'd be able to outrun my slow Krimson Guards, now run Mar, run!"

And that's exactly what the young boy did, he ran from the man, from his mother, from what may have been his last flicker of normal life.

* * *

"Jak! Jak! Jak!" A female voice echoed through the Lion's head, he had been hauled back to the Naughty Ottsel and was placed in his over-sized dog basket (A.N: Keira and Jak now share a huge dog-basket, where as Faith has her own little dog basket next to Jak and Keira's aww!)

Jak's eyes stay firmly shut as his legs shot out in different directions, one caught on something, he pulled away as quickly as possible and then he heard a yelp of pain.

He opened his eyes and saw a man in his late thirties clutching his right arm, blood dripping from an open wound, he looked around and saw, Keira, Tess, a rather drunk Daxter, Faith and something he'd never seen in his very weird and complicated life, a cross between a lion, a tiger and metal head!

"Daddy!" Faith jumped onto her Father and licked his bloody face, Jak groaned in sheer agony as Faith jumped onto his chest with excitement and relief. "Shadow saved you!"

"Who?" Jak asked his voice hoarse. Faith jumped off him and went to the crossbreed who was sat down panting heavily.

"Daddy, this is Shadow, he saved me, then he saved you! He brought you back here and we called a vet, oh, um, and I think you may have hurt him." Faith tilted her head towards the vet, Tess was knelt down by his side trying to calm him down.

"Hello sir," Shadow bowed in front of Jak as though the Lion was a thing of great power, "as your daughter has said I am Shadow, I am a Metal Liger, the last of my kind, but I shall assist whenever possible, as it was my own doing which caused you to be in this state, I thought you were a threat so I warned the metal heads, tell me if there is anything you need."

Jak grinned, then Keira walked up to Jak lowered her head to Jak's level and said, "Jak, I have something important to tell you,"

* * *

**EcoJak: What's Keira gonna tell Jak? Where did Shadow come from? **

**L.O.D.: Review to find out.**


	4. Alive

Chapter 4

* * *

"Jak...I'm going to have a baby." Keira whispered to the older lion; the cat's jaw dropped, revealing many sharp fangs.

He couldn't believe it; another child?

"Keira..." Jak whispered, not really knowing what to say. It was only eight years since they had Faith; they weren't prepared, especially not this soon.

Shadow approached the couple with a neutral expression that never left his metal-plated face. He smiled at the young cats with Faith at his heel.

"I'm glad I saved you." Shadow started. "What's a son without his father?"

Jak's long ears perked up; so, it was a boy.

"How do you know?"

Shadow nodded towards the vet, who was currently cleaning his wound from before. Blood still dripped out, but not too much, anyway.

"The human told me."

"Oh." Jak bowed his head in thought; if Shadow didn't save him, he'd be dead, and his children would've grown up without a father.

He owed him his life.

"...Thank you."

"Speak nothing of it; I have a reputation y'know." Shadow smirked.

Jak chuckled a bit. "What reputation?"

"Surely you reconize a Metal Head leader?"

"A Metal Head leader!" Jak gasped, forgetting that he was still very weak. "What about Kor? I was told the army would fall apart if he was destroyed."

"Sure, the army fell apart, but now we can live our own lives, thanks to you." He looked at Jak, who was still confused. "Kor was a tyrant; we've tried time and time again to push him off the throne, none of us were successful. He treated us more like slaves than children, and sent us out to be killed like innocent lambs. That was...until you came along." Shadow pointed a furry finger at Jak. "You killed him, as well as Errol, to free us. That's why I saved you."

At that, the Metal-Liger turned and started to walk out.

"Hey, wait!" Jak called.

"Just take care of that kid, will ya?" Shadow called to the lion before he was out of sight completely.

"Bye, Shadow!" Faith waved at the departing Liger, then scampered back to her parents.

"Jak? Did you know about all this?" Keira whispered into the lion's ear.

"Noooo..."

Faith placed a tiny paw on her mother's fuzzy belly, poked it slightly, then placed a long ear against it.

"When's he coming out?" Faith asked.

Keira nussled the lioness gently, signaling for her to get down before she injured the baby. Jak couldn't help but smile.

"Well, a baby needs time to develop. They don't just pop out."

The older lion rolled his eyes. "If they did, you'd have a LOT more brothers and sisters running around." Jak told the kitten before adding "Oh, joy."

Keira gasped and nudged the lion roughly with her elbow.

"Ow...that's my tender spot!"

The lioness laughed a bit "Your head's a tender spot."

"Oh, I'M thick-headed?" Jak added, pointing to Daxter, who was currently endulged in his "I'm So Dry" song...again.

"Yeah...I guess you're right." Keira sighed.

The ottsel turned, and swayed drunkly from where he stood.

"HEY! I-HIC- heard that!" Daxter shouted, stupidly. "Dun make me cam o'er 'dere and-HIC- mess ya up real good!"

Daxter then punched himself in the face.

"Anyhoo..." Jak said, turning towards Keira. "I got to name the baby last time, it's your turn."

The lioness looked up in thought. She wasn't very good at creating names. (A.N. And neither am I)

"I...don't know."

Faith jumped up and down by her parents, excitedly.

"I know! I know!"

Jak chuckled, "Yes, Faith?"

"Jakob!"

Keira's long ears dropped in surprise. That was really clever. She turned towards Jak.

"What do you think, Jak?"

"Jakob it is."

That night, Jak and Keira were curled up in their little doggy basket by the bar in the Naughty Ottsel. Jak laid a little bit away from Keira, to keep the developing baby safe from harm.

But still...something wasn't right.

The lion tossed and turned in his sleep, uncomfortably. Something was bothering him.

**Jaaakkkkk...Jakkkkkk...come to meee..**

"What do you want now?"

**Jaaakkk...I come to warn you little Jak...**

"Warn me about what?"

**Your job was not finished, Jak...**

"What in Mar's name are you talking about, who are you?"

**I am you, Jak...I am always you...you do not know me...?**

"Dark...Jak?"

**I come to warn you...Metal-Torn and the spirit were spies...**

"Huh?"

**Leave, little one...leave before it is too late...**

"Too late for what? Where am I?"

**Leave...turn back...turn back...**

"Hey! Come back!"

Just then, Jak was blinded by a flash of blue light, and an angel appeared right before his eyes.

_Where did I go?_

"Light Jak? What's going on?"

_You are in a coma, so I do not have much time._

"What are you trying to tell me?"

_You, and the rest of this planet, are in danger.

* * *

_

_"Jak you must wake up now, for the planets sake, your destiny shall soon entangle with the one you call Shadow, but I must warn you, do not trust a soul, even your daughter could one day turn against you, time can change all,"_

And that was all Light had to say, Jak felt the ground in which he was standing on give way, he found himself falling into a bottomless pit.

And then there was a whirlpool, no fish swam in the vicious vortex, and Jak was falling right into it, he saw a small cliff a few metres away and below him, he stretched out to grab onto the side and then his arms and paws met the top of the cliff and his stomach slammed hard onto the side, he groaned with sheer agony and the rocky surface tore into his flesh blood oozing down his thick golden fur into the water.

He stayed there for a few minutes clinging on for dear sweet life, the sounds of the rushing water growing increasingly stronger, his head was pounding from the continuous sounds of the crashing waves, the muscles in his arms were pretty much screaming out for rest.

He couldn't hold on much, longer, his claws slipped across the stone sending shivers up his spine, his last grip was failing and then, he let go, and found himself falling into the mouth of the whirlpool.

There seemed to be a sudden silence for a few seconds before his whole body crashed into the water, he sank straight to the bottom like an anchor and found himself drowning in one of his worst fears, memories flooded back into his head like the water going up through his nose and mouth

And then, the water seemed to disappear, and only darkness remained, Jak found himself unable to think straight, it was as though something else had taken all of his memories, senses and feelings had deserted him.

That time passed by slowly and painfully, the unawareness was biting away at him, but then he felt something, something sharp on his left ear, and something on his stomach, and also, he had a slight sensation in his tail

Jak growled and then, he felt more and more sensations in his body, his ears twitched, his claws flexed in and out, then he slowly opened his eyes, at first everything was dark and blurred, but then outlines started to form, he could see the dog basket he always slept in, and then also a small paw sliding down his head.

He raised his head very slowly then moved his neck from side to side, his whole body was stiff but being able to see and feel was terrific, but his other senses had not yet returned.

Suddenly a ball of fur about the size of a basketball fell down in front of him, he blinked and saw that the little ball of fur was in fact Faith! She'd grown by a few inches and her fur had become darker, other than that though, she was still the same lioness cub he knew and loved.

He could hear again after a few seconds and he could small juicy meat, one thing he could think of; Dinner! Jak got to his feet but before he could charge into the kitchen to get his food, but something stopped him.

Keira! She stood in front of him and then licked him on his lips, tugged at his ear and directed him back into the basket. Jak reluctantly followed and found a tiny lion cub, its eyes closed firmly shut.

Jak stood and looked at the newborn cub, opened his mouth to speak but when he did, no words or growls came out, but a small meow, his eyes widened then looked around, unfortunately Daxter, Tess, Faith, Keira and the young cub all heard him.

If he could he would have blushed the deepest shade of red imaginable! Everyone apart from the cub burst out laughing and Jak simply sat there and stared at the cub, waiting for the laughter to die down.

Within an hour Daxter had finally stopped laughing, everyone else had stopped laughing after three minutes but Daxter wanted everything to be extra embarrassing for his big fuzzy friend.

After that Jak smiled and laid down next to Keira Faith and his newborn cub "Jakob."

* * *

**EcoJak: I like reviews. Reviews make me happy.**

**L.O.D.: Me too!**


	5. Memories

Chapter 5

* * *

A few hours later, Jak finally was able to move a bit more, but he still had a major head-ache. It beat like a drum, never ending. He rested a gold, furry paw against his fuzzy forehead, and let it slide down, slowly.

He felt like he was sent through a meat grinder.

A huge, monsterous meat grinder with the sharpest blades known to man.

Sapphire eyes broke the darkness of the desolate room, and the lion slowly got up. He couldn't even begin to comprehend what was going on, or anything else for that matter.

_I must warn you, do not trust a soul, even your daughter could one day turn against you, time can change all_

Why did his other halves always have to speak in riddles?

He knew that one day, one day, he would finally understand. Jak's blue eyes widened in shock as another memory flashed before his very eyes.

_"You always think you can save the world, when you cannot even remain on your own feet." _

Jak's growl quickly turned into a full-out snarl.

"It was a trick." Jak whispered.

The spirit only laughed vilely. "I had to get you out of my way, somehow."

The lion's strength gradually grew, along with its anger. He got up, his fur stood on end, his pearly white teeth were bared, and his claws were extended.

"Why! What are you planning!" Jak roared (literally)

"You will see...in due time."

And that was the last he ever heard of him. Jak shook his large head furiously, trying to dissipate the memory that played over and over in his tortured mind.

He was alone.

No-one could help him.

He felt so dizzy, and helpless. His strength had not yet returned, and he felt like crap. He could barely move; he just wanted to scream to all away.

But, he couldn't.

The lion looked back to his two sleeping children; he didn't want them to suffer the same fate as him. He never wanted anyone to suffer, not even the Baron.

Saving the world was always a heavy burden for Jak. Any time someone would send him on a mission, his heart raced.

He wasn't afraid to die; but afraid for his friends. Afraid they would die a slow, and painful death; just as he has before.

Laying down, Jak held out a paw, and stroked the newborn cub, softly, taking a little of its beautiful, gold fur with it. The cub shuffled a bit, but moved no more than that. The lion shut his eyes, and whispered something in an ancient Precursor language to the kitten.

_Epo'u gfbs nz mjuumf ebsmjoh_

The large lion wrapped a thick arm around the cub, and held him close. The kitten's tiny chest raised up and down in soft, even breaths. Jakob shuffled a bit more, and started to cry, softly. Jak shook his arm gently to calm the child down.

"Shhh...shh.." Jak shushed. "It's ok."

After a while, the cub calmed down, and fell back asleep. The lion rested its large head against the cub's tiny head, and sighed.

"I'll protect you...no matter what."

Behind those deep blue eyes, for the first time in his complicated and twisted life, a tear formed, and landed on the baby. Jak got up once again, and trotted over to his first-born, Faith.

"Sorry, Faith."

The lion slid a clawed paw under the pendant his daughter always wore, and broke it in two. He slid the other half, gently, off the lioness' tiny neck, and went back over to his son. He placed the shiny, red pendant around the cub's neck, and stroked his head, softly.

"There ya go, buddy." Jak whispered to the kitten. "Nice and safe."

The lion pulled off his red, wooly scarf, and covered the innocent cub with it to keep it warm. Jak knew he had to keep a close eye on this one; it couldn't even open its eyes yet, let alone control its dark and light powers. He didn't want his son to hurt anyone.

Or himself.

"I saw that." A female voice sounded from the other side of the dark room.

Jak turned and saw his wife, Keira, in the bright light of the doorway. She smiled.

"You ok?" She asked.

The lion didn't answer; he was too busy trying to get settled in again by his children in his doggy basket. Keira wasn't going to give up, however. She made her way towards her husband, and nussled him under the chin like an actual lioness.

The corner of Jak's mouth formed into a small smirk. "You know that's not gonna work."

Keira giggled. "That's what you always say."

Jak leaned his head against hers, still smiling. "No, I don't."

"Ya, you do."

Jak knew damn well that he wasn't going to win this argument. "Ok then Ms. Smarty Cat, how many times have I said that?"

"Counting just now, 26."

"Damn."

Just then, Jak grabbed Keira by the neck, and gave her the biggest noogie ever! The lioness just laughed, and tackled her husband down to the hard, wooden floor.

Daxter came running in looking like he was run over by a truck...again, and again. He glared at the two lions, who were fast asleep in their bed.

"Keep it that way!" Daxter shouted, then walked out once again.

"Sucker!" Jak whispered, quietly, to Keira.

* * *

Days passed slowly and Jakob had started to open his eyes, they were a lovely turquoise colour and he got more attention than Daxter and Faith put together! Jak was always picking him up and playing with him, Keira was always grooming him and Faith did all she could to get him to stand up.

Meanwhile poor Daxter was getting left out, he often grumbled and asked how a newborn kitten could POSSIBLY be cuter than himself. He was soon to find out.

It was a Saturday afternoon; Jak was playing with Faith whilst Keira laid in her basket watching the two cats play, little Jakob was curled up next to her stomach purring softly.

Daxter was grumbling to himself on a bar stool as he death glared Jakob sleeping peacefully in his basket, the ottsel growled and sipped a glass of beer next to him, which had been there all morning and he had only just drank a quarter of it.

Jak noticed his little fuzzy pal moping around on the chair and trotted over to him with a big smile on his face.

"Cheer up Dax, just because you could never get those good looks when you were younger doesn't mean you have to hold a grudge against the little guy," Jak knew Daxter wasn't too pleased about his son, but the lion tried his hardest to cheer Daxter up. "They're so sweet when they're young."

"Yeah, and then they grow up," Daxter mumbled. Jak chuckled and gave his friend a noogie. "Quit it!" Jak stopped and ran off to Keira. "What the hell are you up to?" Daxter saw Jak pick up Jakob and bring him over. "No! Please Jak no!"

But Jak didn't listen, Jakob wasn't too happy either, he was just getting comfy next to his mother, until he was picked up in his Dad's mouth and the older lion's teeth dug into his fragile body.

Jak dropped Jakob in front of Daxter and nudged his son to stand up. The Lion cub struggled to his feet and then jumped onto the bar stool next to Daxter. Jak – being the large lion that he was – was now eye level with his son, Jakob looked at his Father and when Jak nodded Jakob pounced onto Daxter knocking him off the barstool.

"That's my boy!" Jak laughed, Faith ran up to her Father and then pounced on Daxter, with  
Jakob. "There you go Dax, all the attention you could ever want!"

"Get offa me!" Daxter pushed himself up and Faith ran over to her Mother getting as far away from the soon to be rampaging ottsel as possible! Jakob however sat down on top of Daxter's stomach and wagged his tail happily. "Oh, go and be a good little furball and go play with dodgy T.V. cables!

Jakob looked at Daxter tilted his head to one side and then for the first time in his little life, he spoke! "Daxter," The ottsel looked at Jakob then at Jak who was just as shocked as himself.

"He said his first word!" Jak jumped up and down in excitement. Jakob jumped down off Daxter and wagged his tail some more. Daxter then found why everyone thought the world of the young cub, he was adorable!

Daxter was now friends with Jakob, Jakob had said his first word, and Faith got to pounce on Daxter again, things could only really get better, or so everyone thought…

* * *

**EcoJak: Please review?**


	6. Reunion and Reminise

Chapter 6

* * *

Little did they know, a large, white lion watched over the animals in the distance. Two white wings pressed against its back, and its long tail waged, slowly as it emmited a low growl. The wind blew against its long fur, and, in a shade of fog, it dissapeared. 

All that was left behind was a red Yin-Yang pendant with a long string attached.

_Mar...

* * *

_

Time passed, and Daxter became more and more accustomed to the little kitten he once hated. Daxter was the one who wound up feeding him, burping him, and doing all of the things Jak didn't feel like doing. But, the little ottsel wasn't alone; his girlfriend, Tess, usually watched Jakob and Faith when Daxter was too busy. She was responsable for helping Keira sing them to sleep, and making sure they never got into trouble.

But, this time of peace was never meant to be.

Over the eight years with Faith, everyone had forgotten about Torn's Metal-Head Metamorphisis problem; and it continued to progress. Luckily, he was able to control it whenever it happened, but when he couldn't, many people died a bloody death. When the Freedom League commander heard about the new Metal-Head leader, and how it saved Jak's life, he went to the old Metal-Head nest for help.

"Hello?" Torn's distorted voice echoed throughout the cave. "Anyone home? Shadow?"

Torn, still in his Metal-Head form, walked into the old cave slowly. The only light he had was the golden, glowing Skull Gem on his metal plated forehead, and deep foot prints emerged from every sluggish step he took. A siloette of a furry lion appeared in the darkness, and crawled up to the Metal-Precursor. He smiled.

"Precursor."

"Metal Head." Torn replied.

"What do you want?" Shadow growled.

Torn picked up his metal plated tail, and wagged it in his grasp. Shadow raised an eyebrow at this, and his mouth formed into a tight smile.

"In case you haven't noticed..." Torn inquired.

The Liger shook its head in annoyance.

"And you want me to change you back; correct?" The Liger said, flatly.

"Well, I'd really appreciate it." Torn answered, rolling his golden eyes.

"Fine."

The Liger walked up to the Precursor, and held out two metal claws.

"And that's gonna help me...how?" Torn asked.

"Just wait."

As soon as the cat was close enough, it jabbed its hard claw right into Torn's windpipe! Torn screamed bloody murder as the pain surged throughout his entire body. The Liger stood over him, emotion completely dissapated from his very being.

"YOU TRICKED ME!" Torn yelled.

"Wait." Shadow repeated.

Just then, Torn's Metal Head body began to morph into a fuzzier state. His red hair grew longer until it formed into a red mane, his skin became dark brown fur, and black claws shot out of his fingertips.

Torn's screaming eventually died down, and his new body plopped down into the dirty ground in pain.

"W-what did you...do to...me...?" Torn gasped.

"I re-directed the Dark Eco in your body, and I guess this is the result. The pain should wear off in a few hours."

"B-but why a lion?"

"It depends on what you were thinking of before the Dark Eco morphed."

"damn..." Torn cursed under his breath before passing out.

"In time...you will understand." Shadow whispered.

* * *

Later that day, Jak laid in his doggy basket watching Daxter, and his two cubs running around playing tag. Daxter looked back at Jak, whispered something to the two cubs, and folded his arms. 

"Uh oh." Jak moaned.

Faith and Jakob looked at each other with a BIG smile, and ran over to their father. Faith pounced on Jak, while Jakob constantly tugged on his long ears.

Jak rested his head on the pillow, but noticed something outside. He slowly got up, and walked away from the three.

When he got outside, however, it dissapeared. A familiar voice echoed through the confines of his mind.

_Mar..._

"Father?" Jak gasped, hoping it was just his imagination.

Daxter walked up to his friend, worriedly. The ottsel saw the lion staring up into the sky, mindlessly.

"Jak?"

Jak never heard him; he was too busy trying to focus on the voice in his mind.

_Mar...I must tell you something important.._

The voice inside Jak's head echoed, Jak sat down and panted and tried not to look out of place in the real world, he scratched behind his ears and closed his eyes so he could concentrate on what the voice had to say. 'I want you to go to Haven Forest with the Ottsel and your two cubs, tell no one of where you are going, or the future could be corrupted forever,'

But then the voice faded away and Jak was left next to Daxter, the Ottsel had a lead in his paws and swung the lead over the Lion's head and Jak looked at him puzzled by his actions. "Old short green and grungy said you needed to wear this cause of nearly breaking that Vet's arm," Daxter and Jak sighed, but didn't bother to discuss the matter further, Jak was concentrated on what the mysterious voice had said and Daxter was more interested in looking at certain female civilians as they walked by him then he'd growl and yip and run with Jak like crazy behind other civilians.

"Dax, I wanna take Faith and Jakob out to the Forest, you wanna tag along?" Jak asked his rodent-like companion on their way back from their little stroll along the Port. Daxter scratched his head in thought for a second then he nodded, jumped onto Jak's back and they ran back to the Naughty Ottsel.

"I love having a lion as a pet," Daxter grinned as he dismounted Jak and ran up to the two lion cubs, "Hey kids! Guess who it is! Your old uncle Daxter!" The cubs however looked at him and rolled their eyes, the whole uncle Daxter thing was going stale pretty quickly. "I have meat!"

That little bribe however never grew stale; Jakob and Faith pounced onto the Ottsel licking him as though he was an almighty God or something.

"Uncle Daxter!" The two yelled together, though they knew Daxter wasn't really their uncle they enjoyed calling him that as it made him feel good about himself. "Look you Dad wants to take you out on a big adventure in the woods, would you like to come?"

"Yay!" The two cubs ran around happily with each other then the three lions and Ottsel set off for an adventure in the forest.

* * *

After an hour of walking around in Haven city getting fussed over and snatching meat from market stalls the four finally got into Haven forest, the scenery was as dazzling as ever, birds swooped down into the rivers catching small fish in their beaks and little creatures ran around making good hunting practice for the cubs. 

Jak allowed them to play with the animals of the forest for about half an hour, neither of them caught anything as they were simply playing around with the wildlife wanting to make friends more than attack to kill.

The lion rested its head on the wet, grassy ground and started to doze off slightly. Faith and Jakob, however, had given up trying to catch the little animals running around in the forest, and went after something a little faster; Daxter. The little ottsel ran as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, but bumped into something big and furry. Tourquoise eyes fixed on the small rodent, and the ottsel backed away slowly.

"It's that damn dog again!" Daxter screamed, running for his life. This time, the "damn dog" caught him. "Jak! Help!"

Jak woke from his sleep and raced over to his animal friend. When the lion turned the corner, he saw Daxter pinned on the ground by a large, orange paw attached to a small wolf. The wolf raised its gaze to the cat mere feet from him.

"Hello."

"Hello..." Jak replied, hesitantly.

The wolf turned back to the ottsel in its grasp. "Is this your friend?"

"Yeah..."

The wolf then lifted its paw and set the orange rodent free; Daxter gasped for breath and scurried behind his friend's legs.

"Mr. 'I'm too cute to die' is your friend?" the wolf sneered.

"Who are you?" Jak asked.

"My name is Comet, I am an offical guard dog of the great king, Damas. Or, was; long ago."

The lion tilted its head a little. "You knew Damas?"

Comet didn't reply, but started to shuffle a bit. A tiny black and white head peeked out from the rear and light blue eyes stared at the lion and ottsel. Its tounge hung limply over its mouth and it emmited a tiny bark.

"Oh, sorry. This is my daughter, Kia..."

"NOOO! Not another one!" Daxter clutched his head in horror.

Faith and Jakob, by now, had caught up to the two animals, but noticed the wolf puppy. Without warning, they lunged at the pup, and started chasing it.

Suddenly, the puppy grew large, blue tentacle wings and took to the skies. While the puppy teased them, Faith and Jakob were in shock.

"...a master of Light Eco." Comet finished.

Jak and Daxter looked at the wolf in awe, but quickly snapped back to reality.

"Now, about Damas.." Jak started, but was intrupted once again when the skies suddenly turned dark. The sun was completely blacked out, and dark figures flew through the black sky.

A black fog smothered the forest. Trees withered, along with anything else that got in its way. The fog slowly made its way towards the animals, but everyone was too petrified to move.

"No...its him.." Comet whispered.

"Who?" Jak asked.

Faith, Jakob, and Daxter all ran behind the lion's back legs, and anxiously waited for something to happen.

"Stay behind me." Jak whispered to the animals.

Suddenly, a dark figure appeared out of the fog, followed by an army of Dark Makers.

_You will all suffer..._

Red eyes broke through the endless abyss, and a black creature lunged at the lion and ottsel, and the lion lunged back.

* * *

**EcoJak: Read and review, please. Please? I've got cookies!**


	7. Betrayal

Soon enough the two creatures had slammed into each other and were falling back towards the ground, both growling and biting each other fiercely, Jak had so far scratched and bitten the mysterious beast mostly on it's face a stomach, the creature he was facing seemed almost stronger than himself and he could feel himself loosing his energy.

The fight lasted for an hour and a half before the unknown creature had Jak on his back groaning in agony from a large cut across his back, he was an easy target for the creature, it advanced on Jak meaning to swipe his head from his shoulders just before a huge roar came out of nowhere and the vile creature was struck to the ground by what seemed to be a big brown blur.

Another roar emitted from the new creatures mouth and then everyone found that the animal was in fact another lion, with dark brown fur and darker thick brown mane. The lion brought his head up, bared his teeth then with all the strength the lion could muster he brought his head back down for the kill…

… only to bite into nothing but soil, he got up wrenching his teeth out of the ground and looked around, the creature was no where to be seen!

Then he turned around and looked at Jak, the younger lion was stood next to his two young and his newfound friends protectively, he bared his teeth and growled deeply in the back of his throat.

"Come near my children and die." Jak growled, he had completely forgotten about the fact that he was weak and wounded badly. The new lion stayed exactly where he was and muttered coolly.

"I never knew you were THAT protective of the little hairballs!" Jak roared fiercely at the comment and then stopped. The lion's voice sounded familiar; incredibly rough, then Jak noticed the animal looked somewhat like Torn, only with fur and a tail!

"Torn? Is that you? Or is there a poor lion just as ugly as yourself?" Jak screwed his face up.

"Humph, I thought I was rather attractive myself," At that point everyone burst into laughter, "What!"

Jak was the first to stop laughing and he checked himself over, the wounds would definitely take some time to fully heal and he was lucky to even be alive, but despite the deep cuts in his flesh the only other trouble was one of his back teeth which had been whacked out of place after a rather hard punch in the jaw, but he'd have a vet look at that later.

Jak had many questions to ask Torn, like how he'd become a lion, but when he saw metal heads appearing behind rocks, he signalled for everyone to walk away slowly and quietly. After Errol's defeat the remaining metal heads had become a bit less ferocious. They only attacked if they were hungry or creatures or humans were invading their territory for a long period of time.

By the time they were out of the forest it was early evening and by the time they reached the Naughty Ottsel it was eight O'clock and little Jakob had fallen to sleep. Jak was now carrying the young cub in his mouth.

Once they were in Keira took the children – including Kai – and made them comfortable in the small basket next to her and Jak's. Torn had to explain his whole situation to everybody and once he'd finished everyone had pretty sore heads thinking about the subject.

Finally it was time for dinner; the children had all fallen to sleep so Jak, Keira, Torn and Comet all dug in to their own share of meat.

As the evening rolled into night Torn found a sudden interest in Keira, he'd never been like this around her when she was a human, he didn't have a clue what was going on! But he shuffled closer to her and even slipped the lioness a few pieces of his meat.

But this was to end badly, Jak didn't notice anything wrong at first but when he saw Torn trying place one of his paws onto Keira's; Jak leapt to his feet and let out a huge roar. All the children woke up and Tess and Daxter stopped talking and stared at Jak, the lion was fuming.

Torn got up too but he wasn't prepared for any roaring or type of violence, he simply bowed his head, by this time, Keira had shuffled back towards Tess and Daxter ears low and head hung. And Jak was still as angry as ever, he lunged at Torn and bit the older lion on the ear, Torn yelped in pain and withdrew towards Tess and Daxter like Keira, he laid low near the couch Tess was sitting on but Jak carried on advancing towards him.

And then, without warning, Jak pounced towards Torn, mouth wide open, huge sharp teeth bared then he felt something in his mouth, he didn't care what it was he simply brought his mouth down and in a split second his teeth sunk into something.

Unfortunately, it wasn't Torn, Jak had closed his eyes during the pounce in case Torn decided to swipe him in the eyes, the lion opened his eyes to see that his teeth were fastened tightly around Tess' left hand. The blond woman was staring down at Jak tears in her eyes, but not from the sheer pain she was going through, but from fear.

Jak slowly let Tess' hand go and she clutched it tightly to her stomach, she didn't care that blood was staining her t-shirt, the pain was even more intense now that Jak had taken his teeth away.

Daxter was the first to shake his head and call for an ambulance, Jakob was sobbing from exhaustion and the blood, which he was not, accustomed to seeing. Keira placed a paw around his tiny body and calmed him down as best she could.

Jak sat next to Tess and Torn, ears back his tail between his legs, he panted heavily trying to get the taste of blood out of his mouth, but it wouldn't go.

Soon enough the doctor arrived and when he saw what had happened he called for a vet straight away. Jak had badly bitten Tess' hand and it would take weeks before she could write with it but the doctor simply placed a bandage around her palm and left just as the vet walked in.

Sadly for Jak, it was the same vet he had scratched a while back, he frowned down at the lion and then opened a large briefcase and took out a syringe and a muzzle. The vet explained that Jak would be temperamental around other male lions due to them being in his territory and around his lioness and young. The injection Jak was getting was to calm his nerves and the muzzle was to stop him biting anybody else.

Jak allowed the vet to slip the muzzle on without a fuss, then the syringe went in, the vet squeezed the liquid inside into his blood stream and then things went very blurry.

Slowly and painfully, the syringe began to take its toll on the poor lion's body. He felt like he was being ripped apart limb by limb as he sank into eternal darkness. Loud noises faded away almost as if he was falling. He felt lightheaded and dizzy, but he didn't care.

It was soothing.

Suddenly, a dark image took form in the confines of his mind. Its clawed hands were soaked in blood, and its cold, white eyes could pierce through one's soul instantly.

The black smog swirled around the cat's body, suffocating it. It stung at his thick skin; a pain backed up by two long, agonizing years in the Baron's cold, damp prison.

He wanted the pain to end...once and for all.

"HEEEEELLLLPPPP!"

Just then, the dark figure backed away, and took shape of another creature. It glared at the big cat with golden, yellow eyes and tentacles shaped around its head like a mane similar to Jak's. A skull gem oozed out of the monster's head and through its skull.

The monster gave a horrible roar that shook the heavens and flapped its dragon-fly like wings furiously and floated in the black sky, almost completely lost in the shadows.

"Who are you?" Jak growled at the unwelcome visitor.

The creature just laughed and shook its giant head in disgust. The tentacles flapped against its leather skin loosely.

_How soon we forget..._

The blonde maned cat stepped back a bit, but held his position...just in case. Suddenly, the monster dissapeared and Jak was left all alone in the cold darkness.

The lion felt a cold sensation swept over its furred body and it shivered in response; he felt like he was dying all over again. Unfortunately, the searing pain returned once again, and Jak collapsed in the dark nothingness. 

"H-help...please..."

The lion weakly looked up and saw a blinding light that grew brighter and brighter. The pain grew stronger and stronger, but the lion heard one last, echoing voice.

_Beware of the dark light..._

Jak slowly opened his torquoise eyes and tiredly adjusted to the blinding light. As soon as his mind finally connected with the rest of his body, the orange lion realized where he had been taken.

Other mussled animals laid in dirty, wet cages, but didn't bother to even glance at the new cat. Rusted bars surrounded the dark cages and sewer rats scattered in and out of cracks in the ground.

A pound.

Why was he taken here? What did he do wrong? The lion looked at the muddy ground, mindlessly looking for answers. He remembered going home after his fight, relaxing with his cubs and-

Torn!

Jak growled quietly at the thought of his 'friend' snuggling up by his wife. How dare he betray him! The former Precursor busted his ass trying to help that traitor, and this is how he repays him?

It wasn't right.

If it wasn't for Jak, Torn would've died long ago.

The lion opened its mouth in an attempt to rip open the mussle, but to no avail. The mussle was made of pure Yakow leather, the strongest type of leather possible. Plus, the syringe was still in effect, so he didn't have much strength to speak of.

Jak whimpered hopelessly and sank back down onto the wet concrete. He left his children alone with that monster, Torn. What would happen to them? Are they safe? Are they ALIVE? These thoughts raced through the tortured Precursor-lion's mind.

If he ever escaped his prison, his first initial reaction would be to go after Torn. He would pay...dearly.

**_Creeeeeeaaaakkkk..._**

The lion's train of thought was intruppted by the opening of the pound's barred door. A small, orange figure walked up to the cat carefully, almost as if it was afraid.

"Jak?" Its small, mousy voice was music to Jak's ears.

"Mmp.." Jak muttered with the mussle still tightly attached to his short snout.

The ottsel scratched the back to its head nervously. "Yer not gonna bite me, are ya?"

The lion shook its head sadly and slumped down, away from the little ottsel. Daxter knew he didn't want to be bothered, he could tell, but he wanted answers.

"Why'd ya attack Tess? Wha'd she do to you?" Daxter asked.

"I wasn't aiming for her..." Jak replied in disgust.

"Then who?" Daxter moved a little closer to the lion.

Jak turned back to the ottsel, his eyes flaring with pure anger.

"Torn."

"Torn? Why?" Daxter was obviously oblivious to what had happened.

Jak sighed, then growled. "He tried to take Keira away from me. He snuggled up next to her. But when he placed his paw on hers, that was the last straw."

"Oh." The ottsel replied, taking in this new information. "Well, don't worry. We won't let him get away with this, right Jak?"

Jak smiled back at his rodent friend and replied "damn straight!"

Far away, Shadow's ears perked up inquisitively.

"Perfect." He said to himself. "Exactly as planned."


End file.
